Hi David. One must be careful about having an axiomatic assumption that the Scrum Master role is perfectly defined, and so if it is not working out, then the problem must be in how the role is being performed.

Perhaps the role itself is the problem?

I also have known very effective SMs. They were people who took an interest in the team's work. One of them obtained an AWS Solution Architect certification - and that is one of the hardest ones to get. And he had no programming experience.

Having been in IT for a very long time (almost 40 years), I have seen very effective teams and very ineffective teams, and everything inbetween. The most effective teams of all were the ones that had good leadership: an individual - not self organization. And in those cases, the leader was Socratic, constantly asking questions: "How will we handle this? and that?" And would notice that things were being overlooked and get people around a whiteboard and talk it through. Effective leaders don't hesitate to voice their own opinions - but they welcome criticism and help the discussion to drive toward the best solution.

And importantly, the team lead in those cases was accountable, and had authority, and sometimes would make decisions for the team - and take responsibility for those decisions. But most decisions were collective, and resulted from dialectic discussion.

That is true servant leadership, but that is not how the SM role is defined.